Cisco and Southend-on-Sea Borough Council have teamed up on a sustainable vision to help the energy save energy, reduce carbon emissions and foster innovation and growth in the region.
The two organisations will develop a technology hub in the centre of the Essex town that will service businesses, residents and visitors to the area. It will be built on Cisco Kinetic for Smart Cities.
The initiative comprises a range of innovations, such as smart traffic access and parking to ease congestion, community management to prevent anti-social behaviour and connected residential care homes.
Environmental monitoring and management aims to improve air quality in the area and prevent a natural disaster occurring due to flooding and energy management will help businesses cut their power consumption.
"The ambition to share the benefits of digital technologies shouldn't be limited to organisations or even big cities," Stuart Higgins, head of Smart Cities and Internet of Things at Cisco, UK & Ireland said. "What Southend-on-Sea Borough Council aims to achieve is testament to that, and we are thrilled to be working with them and our partners to help enhance the lives of people who live, work and visit the town."
Working together, Cisco and Southend Borough Council will turn the seaside town into a smart city, sitting alongside much larger initiatives in Manchester with its CityVerve project and abroad, where Cisco's technology has been used in Jaipur to improve public safety.
"We want to further enable our citizens and businesses to grow and evolve, in line with the rest of the UK and with competition globally," Nick Corrigan, head of Digital Futures at Southend Borough Council said.
"With Cisco's proven expertise in the developing smart cities and technology sector, it is the perfect partner to help drive this initiative forward and demonstrate the potential of our Borough. We are looking forward to the collaboration and seeing our local residents and stakeholders realise the opportunities digitisation can offer."
